Mark 1 : 4

Greek employs the articular present participle ὁ βαπτίζων ('the one baptising'), constructing John's identity substantivally; the Vulgate baptizans and the Syriac participle ܡܥܡܕ render simple attributive participles without the substantivising article, a routine structural simplification. The semantic content is preserved across all three.

All three attest the prepositional phrase 'in the wilderness', but the Syriac collapses preposition, article, and noun into the single inflected form ܒܡܕܒܪܐ, while Greek and Latin spell out the components. The Syriac also positions the phrase before the participle, a minor word-order variation typical of the Peshitta.

Greek εἰς ἄφεσιν and Latin in remissionem use a preposition plus accusative to express purpose ('for the forgiveness'); the Syriac marks the same notion synthetically with the prefixed lamadh on ܠܫܘܒܩܢܐ, a prepositional prefix functionally equivalent to the Greek and Latin constructions.